Walter Keane
'''Walter Keane '''is the main antagonist of Big Eyes. He is portrayed by Christoph Waltz. Big Eyes Walter is first seen when the recently divorced Margaret hopelessly tries to sell her art. Keane is having no trouble selling his Parisian street paintings, but he seems to be charmed by Margaret's art. He compliments her, and the two artists fall in love. When Margaret discovers that she cannot live without a husband, Keane instantly proposes to her, to which she accepts, so they marry. Margaret attempts to have her paintings hanged on the wall of a jazz club and Walter manages to convince the club's owner to let her do it. To Walter's surprise, however, the customers appear to be interested in Margaret's paintings, not his. Shortly after, Keane has a fight with the club's owner and ends up on the front page of a local newspaper. This seems to work out for the better, since the publicity makes a lot of people interested in the art. When Keane shows up at the scene, he realizes Margaret's potential and sells many paintings in his own name. When he gets home, he eagerly shows Margaret the money and explains that if he poses as the painter, they'll have an easy time selling these paintings. Margaret agrees to do this at first, but soon becomes frustrated when Keane continuously takes all of the credit for her work. Because of this, she develops a new style so that she can at least draw something and put her name on it, but Walter seems to be insulted by her actions. Eventually, Margaret makes a horrible discovery - the Parisian paintings were not by Keane at all, but by another artist with the signature S CENIC. She confronts Keane for this, and despite his desperate excuses, she broken-heartedly leaves the room. Keane gives up and admits that he'd always wanted to be an artist, but simply didn't have the talent to paint. This doesn't change his intentions, however, as Keane forces Margaret to create a "magnum opus" for the New York's World Fair. At this point, Margaret's daughter Jane soon discovers that she's the real painter, but she gets too intimidated by Walter to let everyone know the truth. The finished painting, entitled "Tommorow Forever", receives a scathing review from art critic John Canaday, which infuriates Walter. He has a drunken tantrum and starts throwing lit matches at Margaret and Jane, causing a large fire. This is the last straw for Margaret and Jane, who then leave Walter by moving to Hawaii while Margaret files for a divorce. Despite this, Keane soon calls Margaret and gives her an ultimatum: he remorselessly demands for 100 paintings and the rights of all of her previous works, otherwise he won't sign the divorce papers. A helpless Margaret reluctantly cooperates and starts sending him paintings, but after encountering some Jehovah's Witnesses who tell her that honesty is in important, she starts signing the paintings with MDH Keane, much to Walter's annoyance. Margaret then unexpectedly reveals that she's the real artist on a random Hawaiian radio show, which makes national news. Walter responds by saying she's gone mad through the Gannett Company, but Margaret quickly charges him and the company with slander. Walter initially enters the courtroom with numerous lawyers, but they reveal that they are only their to assert that Gannett was only reporting on his claims in relation to a significant public event, and thus they are immune to Margaret's prosecution. With their case made, the lawyers leave Walter to fend for himself. However, when he's supposed to testify, he goes on a manic rant where he talks about how legitimate he is and how he's met countless celebrities. The judge then demands that they both draw a painting in one hour to prove who's the real artist, leaving Walter devastated. Instead of drawing anything, he emptily stares into the air while claiming to be "getting ready" while Margaret starts her own painting. When there's almost no time left, he suddenly grunts in pain and claims that his arm hurts, rendering him unable to paint. However, the judge sees through his blatant lie and Margaret wins the lawsuit, gaining $4 million in damages and leaving Walter in bitter defeat. In the film's epilogue, it is told that even after being exposed and shamed of his actions, Walter still insists to the world that he's the real artist (to no avail), and eventually dies of old age in the year 2000. 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